METROPOST


JULY 21 - JULY 27, 2019


NEWS and UPDATES 3 CAMPUS NEWS


Silliman suspends classes over bomb scare


Manjuyod Mayor Felix Sy is greeted on his birthday last Tuesday by pupils and teachers of the Maaslum Elementary School, where he visited to distribute school supplies. (Cong. Josy Limkaichong photo)


City to check PisoNet outlets


Board here is seeking a crackdown on the so-called “Piso Nets” scattered in the City’s 30 barangays. AIB Chair Dr. Phoebe Tan reported to the City Mayor’s Office the proliferation of these Internet machines and cafés in the different villages during the conduct of their monthly actual monitoring. “Piso Nets” are arcade-


The Anti-Indecency


style computer units in Internet shops, which are used mostly by minors to access the web after inserting a one-peso coin into the machine slot. The Child Protection Unit in this capital city


DSWD puzzled: Why


recipients still poor?


are 4Ps


Welfare & Development is trying to overhaul their strategy in implementing the government’s anti- poverty Conditional Cash Transfer or Pantawid Program after discovering that after many years of receiving dole-outs, many of the beneficiaries continue to remain poor. Pantawid Pamilya Provincial Link Asela Bella Tse said the gathering of information is very important to set up a baseline data to pinpoint the actual reasons why they are still poor or what are the causes of poverty so that we can identify the appropriate interventions. There are about 65,000 households who benefit from the Pantawid program in Negros Oriental.


The DSWD held a convergence meeting among national government agencies and local government units last week to discuss strategies in addressing some challenges for poverty alleviation and


TO PAGE 6 The Department of Social


expressed concern over the report that pornographic advertisements just pop up in the middle of the games being played by children. Tan said on Monday that most of the Internet cafes with “Piso Nets” are operating with either expired Mayor’s Permits or with no permits at all. Other outlets claim to be in the process of securing the requirements as they also need to get permits from the Optical Media Board. The AIB was created through an Ordinance, and operates under the City Mayor’s Office.


Tan said she intends


Sagarbarria to Ceres: settle dispute soon


Cong. Manuel Sagarbarria has expressed hope that the management dispute rocking the Ceres Bus Company will be resolved soon so as not to disrupt their transport services. Sagarbarria voiced his concern amid reported plans last week by the drivers and conductors to suspend their operations from Bacolod to Dumaguete and other parts of the country until the management dispute is settled.


Ceres Liner, operated by Vallacar Transit Inc., is the biggest bus company in the Philippine,s and operates 4,800 buses and employs some 18,000 workers. The corporate feud started when four of the children of founder and matriarch Olivia V. Yanson ousted their younger brother Leo Rey as president. Leo Rey Yanson was replaced by elder brother Roy, and in a press conference early this month, declared that they have taken over the operations of the bus company. But while the bus firm’s


central office in Bacolod was under the control of the four director-siblings, most of the the drivers and conductors who belong to the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial & Industrial Workers Union-Trade Union of Congress of the Philippines (PACIWU- TUCP) and its Vallacar Transit chapter, are siding with Leo Rey, who also has the support of thier mother Olivia Yanson, and one other sibling.


operations continue despite the management dispute because if they paralyze their operations, it would be very bad for everybody,” Sagarbarria said.


is concerned about the economic implications of such a scenario. “The operations of Ceres Liner contribute in a very big way to the economy of the two Negros provinces, as well as the other communities that they serve,” he said. Olivia Yanson wrote an open letter last week to her children who took over the


TO PAGE 14 Sagarbarria said he “I hope the Ceres Liner


to meet with the Liga ng mga Barangay, headed by Motong Village Chief Dionie Amores, after noting that most of such “Piso Nets” are established inside residences.


In a recent Kapihan forum held at the Talay gym nas ium


Bajumpandan village councilman Felomino Solamillio expressed difficulty in running after “Piso Net” operators. Meanwhile, CPU social worker Roselyn Frejoles said a member of the City Council is looking into the blocking of pornographic advertisements in “Piso Nets”. (Juancho Gallarde)


here,


child sex abuse victims noted


More


Unit of the City Social Welfare office has expressed concern on the increase of the number of sexually- abused children in Dumaguete City.


social worker, disclosed that the number of sexually- abused children from January to July this year has reached an alarming proportion, compared to the same period last year. For the first six months this year, the number has risen to 28, compared to 33 for the entire period of 2018. The number of barangays with sexually- abused children has also risen from 13 barangays in 2018 to 18 barangays for the first six months this year. What is more alarming is


that five of the suspects are minor offenders mainly due to what they have seen in internet cafes and PisoNet outlets. In lieu of the rising incidence of sexually- abused children, the CPU is conducting lectures on the protocol


these cases, particularly in barangays with reported cases.


in handling


15 out of the 28 victims are with ages 3-14 years old, while 13 victims are aged 15-17 years old.


CPU statistics show that


five fathers of the victims, a stepfather, the grandmother, a paternal relative, four uncles of the victims, a cousin, seven neighbors, three strangers, a male regarded as a gay friend, two teachers, a security guard, and a foreign national.


recommended to the City government the hiring of a full time psychologist to conduct regular psycho- social interventions to CSA victims, their families and even to minor offenders. Frejoles is saddened by the fact that six of their clients have shown lack of interest in pursuing charges


TO PAGE 14 Frejoles has The offenders include Roselyn Frejoles, CPU The Child Protection


The situation at Silliman University has returned to normal Saturday following the sudden suspension of classes Friday afternoon over a bomb scare. The crisis management team of the University recommended the suspension of classes after someone claiming to be a Silliman alumnus and a self-confessed New People’s Army member posted on Facebook, including the FB page of the SU Office of Information & Publications, that he learned of a plan to detonate a bomb somewhere in the Silliman campus that day. No one was allowed inside the campus as police moved in to sanitize the 33-hectare main campus. Through its official Facebook page, Silliman said: “Around noontime today, Silliman University received an advisory from a certain individual claiming to be an SU alumnus and at the same time a member of the New People’s Army. He claimed that a possible bombing will occur this afternoon at the University grounds.” Around 7 p.m. Friday, the University issued another advisory on its FB page that the campus has been found safe and secure by security personnel, and that regular activities will resume Saturday, July 20 by 7 a.m. The bomb scare prompted other schools to also take preventive measures, in case they, too, receive the same. Don Bosco Dumaguete also posted an advisory on their Facebook page telling Bosconian students to avoid going to public places and crowded establishments as the threat at Silliman may go beyond the confines of the University. (AP)


SPUD to host youth worship in VisMin


As the Catholic Church celebrates 2019 as the Year of


the Youth, the St. Paul of Chartres Education Ministry, together with the Christian Formation National Office, is holding an assembly called Paulinian Youth in Worship for Visayas and Mindanao on July 24-26. St. Paul University Dumaguete is hosting this opportunity to share and proclaim God’s love for the youth, where about 500 representatives from various Paulinian schools and hospitals from Visayas and Mindanao are expected to attend.


Some of the highlights of the assembly include: A


Walk to Remember, a group walk from the St. Paul campus along the national highway, to the SPC landmark at the boulevard, to culminate at the Dumaguete Cathedral where an image of Jaro Bishop Frederick Rooker is located.


It was Monsignor Rooker who had invited the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres to serve in his Diocese, which included, at that time in 1904, half of the states of Visayas and of Mindanao. His congregation developed a chain of universities in the Philippines which became known for training nurses.


The structure at the Dumaguete boulevard depicts seven Sisters from Chartres, France on a banca as they landed here from Vietnam on Oct. 29, 1904. Their mission from Bishop Rooker was to establish here the first St. Paul school in the Philippines.


Other highlight of the assemly include Cherishing the Emmaus Experience, a scripture-based sharing with reflection and commitment; A Night of Worship with songs in videos; and I Am an Empowered Paulinian, a talk show with outstanding Paulinians. (PR)


host Reservist Week


Center in Camp Leon Kilat, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Crescencio Tan Jr., will host this year’s celebration of the National Reservists’ Week on Aug. 18.


Reservists from the Army Reserve Command (AResCom) of the 703rd


Community Defense


charge of headquarters service company and Alpha Coy, said the Reservists’ Week was kicked off by a coastal clean-up on July 20 from barangay Bantayan to barangay Looc.


The coastal clean up was coordinated with reservists from the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Navy, the Maritime Police, the Philippine Coast Guard, all


Maj. Nilo Sayson, in


Reserved Officers Training Corps in the City, barangay officials from Bantayan, Piapi, and Looc, and their respective Bantay Dagat wardens.


two medical and dental mi s s ions


University and in the Sibulan barangays of Tubtubon, Magatas, Boloc- boloc and Agan-an, which will be sponsored by the Technical Administrative Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; setting up of a database/accounting of members of the reservist batallion in Nergos Oriental for easy mobilization; and a ceremonial review in honor of dignitaries from the AResCom in Manila. (Juancho Gallarde)


Other activities include at Si l l iman


Army Reserve to


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